MICHIGAN: Backlash At Anti-Gay Mayor

Last week Mayor Janice Daniels of Troy, Michigan made national news when a six-month old anti-gay Facebook post surfaced. Now Daniels is facing the music at home.

She is getting a short, not too happy, education in the facts of political life — specifically that the kind of sweeping stereotypes that fringe groups applaud don't play well with the wider electorate, who may include the CEOs of major corporations or the local chamber of commerce. While Daniels says "I love all people," her Facebook post emitted the kind of "those people" vibe that created a barrage of Facebook jokes about Troy hairdressers and waiters exacting revenge on the mayor. "We don't regard this as statesmanlike or leadership," said Michele Hodges, president of the Troy Chamber of Commerce. "We've been deluged by emails and calls, but we want people to direct their anger, their justifiable anger, at city hall, not at local business." Maureen McGinnis, the mayor pro tem, said City Council members had received hundreds of emails, including those from people who said they wouldn't shop in Troy stores or eat in Troy restaurants.

Daniels says SHE is hearing from people who "want to move to Troy" because of her anti-gay attitude.